


Butterfly

by VisibleClosedEyes



Category: Sunless Sea
Genre: BDSM, Blood and Violence, Cannibalism, Cannibalistic Thoughts, Consensual Sex, Criminal Activities, Dark, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, LGBTQ Character, Lesbian Character, Mental Instability, POV Third Person Limited, Power Dynamics, Power Imbalance, Sexual Tension, Sexual Violence, Spoilers, Surreal, Tags May Change, Unreliable Narrator, Unstable Character, quest spoiler, typical Neath weirdness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:34:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25749715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VisibleClosedEyes/pseuds/VisibleClosedEyes
Summary: Maybe's daughter tagged along with a morally bankrupt captain.
Relationships: Maybe's Daughter/Zee-Captain(s) (Sunless Sea)
Kudos: 2





	1. Mangrove

**Author's Note:**

> This is kinda my first fanfic. I'm not a native speaker so pardon my language and mistakes.

Maybe’s daughter has been hearing her name for quite some time, from the zailors shanties and some time gossiping between recently arriving passengers. The Captain of a ship named Serpentine, quite a fancy name – though, she cannot possibly think why equals ship to reptiles, set her feet on the dock of mangrove college. The daughter was not sure how to make the recent newcomer (or newcomers, if she has to count the crews – she didn’t,).  
She has a pair of dark cold eyes that accompanied by a gentle darkness in under the eyes; the daughter wondered, how many nights have those eyes been opened straight with no sleep, how many tales of terrors have they witnessed. The captain has dark straight hair that was almost being devoured into the same background by the sunless of the Neath itself, and lastly, she was tall and very modestly dressed. Maybe ‘Modest’ is not the right word– but she did dress from head to toe, looks very London–esque but that’s just the exterior.  
The head of the Serpentine( Wow, that sounds fancy), didn’t do much to be surprised. Rested, talked, wrote – definitely not an intelligent at all – report. Maybe’s daughter and she didn’t have a chance to talk, as funny as it might sound because the daughter didn’t have many things to do herself, neither did the captain. However, today the crews have been gathering and checking on their supplies and fuels since the dawn( If we did get any in the Neath), and the captain also was there; talking to one of the residents who has been talking about leaving the islands for months prior.  
“Wait–” The daughter caught up with the crews on time when the plank was just about to be lifted. The captain was nowhere to be seen here, maybe she was inside.  
“ I want to board the ship, I need to go… doesn’t matter, I can go anywhere. I’m an engineer! A talented one at that, may I speak with the captain?” She spoke rapidly and panted after she sprinted like her life was on the line. Zailors looked at each other and then at Maybe’s daughter with skepticism and untrust. She paid no attention to them and walked overboard but never forgot to say thank you to those two zailors: Manners are important, second to being likable enough. One zailor escorted me to the captain cabin, he opened the door then quickly left but he didn’t forget to give me a glance of doubt.  
There was not much to say about the cabin itself— no exotic curio as far as she can tell but there was a shrine of the Salt, one of the gods of the zee. The candles that seemed to burn itself to a puddle of hard wax. The captain was there, at her study next to the bookshelf and small bed

“ I believe you want to board the ship? As a head engineer?” She delivered a rhetorical question, was not meant to be answered  
She smiled mirthlessly, her left hand playing with her black pen then she continued shortly after.  
“ Unfortunately, that position was filled. But fortunately, I’m not a strict person. That's to say...you can stay but you have to work with the other head engineer–” someone opened the cabin door and interrupted her. It was one of the bo’sun with a face crossovered by scars and blemishes, his left eye seems to be functional despite the large scar from forehead to almost his chin. A little intimidating, but it was a generic look of a ‘ seasoned zailors’ and inevitably bored Maybe’s daughter six seconds later.  
“ The local scholars give us some supplies cap'tain, it’s in the cargo– also about the shady sort…”  
“ Have her sleep in the cargo area, we are not a passenger ship so she has to deal with it,” she ordered and dismissed him, he nodded. All attention to me once again, her extraordinary dark eyes pierced into my eyeballs like a destructive harpoon gun. After a few seconds, she smirked at me again then said:  
“ You will have your cabin...well, not your own. You have to share it with the mechanic. Figure it out where it is on your own, will you? Now– if you don’t…” she put her hand on the hill of papers and journals and charts, smiled at me with no trace of warmth or kindness.  
“ I have very important jobs,”

The daughter started working immediately, and the engine room was… it surprised her that this ship still remained on the surface and not underwater. It was so elderly that it probably would give up at any time. There were also many black burnt marks all over the engine room and it concentrated around the engine itself. She didn’t want to think about how many times it was caught on fire.  
She got to know the other chief engineer “ The tireless mechanic” — He was as energetic as he looked tired but always talked so fast and very tediously. After they set sail for approximately thirty minutes, the captain suddenly rushed into the engine room. The crews remained silent, receptive of orders at any moment

“ More fuel to the engine. We need to go faster,” Most crews look at each other with fear in their eyes — the veterans simply just nod and take it upon themselves to complete the task  
“ Wait—” The daughter stopped the crew and turned to face the midnight hair woman. “ Your engine is too damaged, it won’t survive that of overwork!” She felt like she was yelling but the cold eyes of the midnight lady.  
At first, the dark-haired captain just looked at her straight in the eyes. Her gaze was steady enough on the surface but, like the Neath dark zee, the dangerous and murky swirled in her eyes. The daughter can feel its anger. So she retreated

“ There’s a way to make a ship go a little faster without making a hole on it, let me do it,” 

The captain seemed to be satisfied for now then walked out of the room– left everybody staring at each other in silence  
For the daughter and the tireless, they agreed in silence that the captain was insane and need to be kept out of the engine room for everyone safety


	2. Drifted

That blonde haired woman spent most of her time in the engine room but she will always be seen at social gatherings of crew members or the other officers, she was everywhere like a light of Neath’s false stars playing trick to the eyes.  
She observed her like a play back in Veilgarden or Singing Mandrake — with an interest, participation but distant all at the same time. Captain was young, frighteningly young — but she was seasoned enough to know that the blonde engineer cannot be trusted. Well, except in the engine room. 

Butterfly doesn’t exist in the Neath 

She wrote that down in her journal. The one crews members will be thrown overboard if she caught them familiar with the content

She cannot be trusted

She never knows her name – or what she prefers to be addressed as. One day when she decides to be present in the dining hall at the same time with her, she asks.

“People have called me Maybe’s daughter since I was born, so I expected you to follow,” The blonde said with a smile. Like an actual smile and that’s bothering her. Just like her personality as a whole, her smile looks fake and untrustworthy but also hard to hate. These conflicting feelings that Captain cannot quite identify irritated her to no end. 

She asked her– what or who is Maybe? She turned around this time and smiled at her. So there was that. The real meaning of Maybe was left for Captain to speculate before most of it were trashed to the zee and never be brought up again. But that was the beginning of the thirst for secrets that tucked behind her tongue and sat behind her brain. She would record more of Maybe’s daughter in her journal – even in the ship's log book she was referred multiple times in one day’s log. At some point the crews asked, all she said was she didn't trust the new engineer yet. It was true, partially. 

They sailed from port to port. Collected and recorded whatever Admiralty would like to pay for. Sometimes the process was easy but many it was painful or downright dangerous. After the business was concluded, the captain retreated to her cabin and sorted out raw materials then polished it into a readable report. It was tedious. 

It’s been a week after the mangrove incident but both Maybe’s daughter and dark haired woman still never get used to each other. The daughter’s seemingly superficial charm and outgoing personalities started to get to her in a way she cannot explain. One day, she decided to interfere with the blonde's working schedule very early in the morning. She was alone in the engine room, looking genuinely puzzling by her presence 

“Are you available in the evening?” The black haired woman inquired as she leaned against the door frame with her arms crossed. The daughter's hands were busy — checked on the engine, wrote something down, diving through salvage piles for more parts for replacement or fixes if needed. 

“Of course! What would I be doing in the event? Probably more work? Yes, Captain. I’m free—” Her smile was as bright as the sun hovering around Aestivel — absolutely alluring. It made her feel warm but the Captain knew she would die. Just like the butterflies tattoo—on her cheek—was not supposed to be here. They belonged to the sun—the light and—

She snapped out of her train of thought ( If one can call it that, it was too chaotic to be considered ‘train-like’ anyway,) as she felt a warm sensation on her left cheek. For quite some time it seems like the daughter closed her distance between her and the Captain of the serpentine. Now they are close enough that their arms can accidentally brush against each other but that is not the shocking part. It was Maybe’s daughter’s hand cupping her cheek. 

“Captain? Captain?— Are you alright?” Her voice sounded strangely alert… ,excited? could be, but she remained in low volume. Maybe she was genuine in her concern.

“I’m fine— 7 pm. At my cabin. I’ll tell the other that you got an appointment with me. This is— a dining invitation,”

And then she left.

Time somehow flew faster for the Captain and now she was sitting on the opposite of Maybe’s daughter. The table was small so they were more or less forced to look each other in the eyes as soon as they looked up from the food. 

“I know you, captain,” She smiled. It was bright and warm like the false sun in the horizon—It even felt like one.  
“Oh really? What did you know about me?”  
“You are the one that likes to invite officers for dinner so you can get to know their secret, ”  
The captain tried to defend herself that she had no such intention (even though she had) but the blonde woman just smirked and chuckled a little— no anger, not even just a little bit.  
“It’s alright, captain. No need to defend yourselves. I planned to tell you my secrets anyway,”

Oh? 

“It was about my family,”  
“ Your family?”  
“Yes, it was—” she paused. The first time she did sound unsure, insecure.  
“It was a little unusual but I was born from a paraboran creature. To be specific, my dad— he was that thing. Still, I know my father, not my mother,”

Captain pondered for a while. She looked straight through the daughter's eyes as she slowly settled down a knife and fork onto her now empty plate. 

“What was your purpose for telling me this?”  
“Would you be kind and help me find my mother?”  
“How would that even benefit, if not completely wasting my time,”  
She smiled again and the captain felt like a moth captivated by the brightness of her expression— like a false sun. 

“I will leave your ship, I know you don't like me very much. I understand,”  
“I never said that,”  
“I can see it though,” 

Then, to the captain's surprise; Maybe’s daughter raised from her seat and gave her a peck on her cheek. She smelled like some strange Parabolan flowers — with a little pint of honey on top even though she didn’t look like someone who would use them.  
Her cheeks were burnt, a mixture of disbelief, disgust, fear and desire created a huge destructive vortex inside of her heart. Like the sun’s soft and warm hateful touch 

“Good night, Captain,”


End file.
